isoprenoid,any of a class of organic compounds composed of two or more units of hydrocarbons, with each unit consisting of five carbon atoms arranged in a specific pattern. Isoprenoids play widely varying roles in the physiological processes of plants and animals. They also have a number of commercial uses.

Isoprenoids in living organisms range in function from pigments and fragrances to vitamins and precursors of sex hormones. One of the most familiar natural substances, rubber, is a polyisoprene. Other commercially valuable isoprenoids are those used as flavourings, solvents, and raw materials for chemicals.

The five-carbon unit that constitutes the basic building - block of isoprenoids is a hydrocarbon called isoprene. Isoprene (2-methyl-1,3-butadiene) is a branched-chain , unsaturated hydrocarbon, unsaturated meaning it contains one or more double bonds between carbon atoms. Isoprene has , in fact , two carbon–carbon carbon-carbon double bonds. Isoprenoids contain from two to many thousands of isoprene units. Most of the natural isoprenoids are composed of two, three, four, six, or eight isoprenes. Those containing two to four isoprenes are formed by simple addition of the five-carbon units. The six- and eight-unit molecules are made by linking together two three-unit and four-unit molecules, respectively. The carbon backbone carbon backbone of an isoprenoid can have one or more functional chemical groups, such as hydroxyl and carbonyl, attached to it. These help contribute to give the diversity of isoprenoidstheir diversity.The isoprenoids are also known as terpenes. The .

The name terpene specifically refers to naturally occurring compounds that are derivatives of a single isoprene unit, but modern usage has become less precise, and the terms terpenes and isoprenoids are used interchangeably. The word terpene comes from an older spelling of turpentine (terpentine), a cleaner that is a mixture of isoprenoids (originally the resin of the terebinth plant).

The smallest terpene molecules—those containing 10 carbon atoms—are called monoterpenes. The larger molecules, which increase by five-carbon units increased by one isoprene unit at a time, are called sesquiterpenes, diterpenes, triterpenes, and tetraterpenes, respectively (see below Isoprenoid compounds). The monoterpenes are mostly volatile, which accounts for their fragrances. Terpenes of higher molecular weight are less volatile, although sesquiterpenes contribute to the flavours of some foods.Adding water molecules to a pyrophosphate group connected to a monoterpene produces geraniol, a component of geranium oil and an important contributor to rose perfumes. Related molecules are menthol from peppermint oil; citral from lemongrass oil; and limonene from lemon and orange oils. Other monoterpenes include pinene, from turpentine, and camphor.

Many of the larger terpenes are cyclic—i.e., they contain ring structures. However, the diterpene called phytol, an important precursor of the plant pigment chlorophyll, is acyclic. A related diterpene that contains one ring of six carbon atoms is vitamin A.

One of the most important triterpenes is squalene. Although acyclic, it is a precursor of the four-ring steroids that play a key role in controlling many biological activities. Squalene is found widely in nature, notably in fish-liver oils. Five-ring triterpenes, which are derived from squalene, like steroids, are found in many plants. They are often linked chemically to sugars to form compounds called saponins.

The tetraterpenes include many plant pigments such as lycopene, which accounts for the red of tomatoes, and SMßSM-carotene, which accounts for the yellow in carrots. SMßSM-carotene is a symmetrical molecule that the digestive process splits to produce vitamin A.

Polyterpenes are polymers having numerous isoprene units. The best known is natural rubber, in which 4,000 to 5,000 five-carbon units are linked together. Another polymeric isoprene is gutta-percha, a tough plastic substance used in insulation and in dentistry

Isoprenoids of plants and animals

In plants, isoprenoids occur in the essential oils, which are found in the gummy exudates (oleoresins and latices) of many trees and shrubs. Plant isoprenoids effect growth (e.g., the hormone gibberellic acid) and contribute to red, yellow, and orange pigments (carotenoids). Chlorophyll, the green pigment essential in photosynthesis, is partly isoprenoid, as are certain alkaloids, nitrogen-containing compounds present in many plants. In animals, isoprenoids comprise various oily or waxy substances such as fish liver oils, wool wax, and the yellow pigments in egg yolk, butterfat, feathers, and fish scales.

Isoprenoids are not uniformly distributed among plants or animals, but certain classes of these compounds are typical of broad groups of tissues. For example, the nonvolatile substances present in resins produced by trees of the pine family contain diterpene carboxylic acids belonging to three types: abietic, palustric, and elliotinoic. The latices of a few species of plants contain the polyterpene hydrocarbons rubber or gutta-percha. Certain other species, including related species, of plants may be characterized by the presence of menthol, citral, camphor, limonene, or α-pinene.

The role of the monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes produced by plants has not been established, although it has been suggested that they attract certain insects and repel others. Certain plants produce isoprenoids that are very similar to hormones involved in the development of insects that prey on those plants; the plant substances prevent the maturation of the insect, thus serving to defend the plant. The rosin acids of pine trees and the rubber and gutta-percha in latices of various plants may serve as wound-sealing agents.

Several isoprenoids are vitally important in metabolic processes in animals. Tetraterpene carotenoid pigments are the source of vitamin A, which is essential for vision and is involved in growth, reproductive function, and neural development in animals. Other vitamins that are wholly or partly isoprenoid include vitamin E, important in reproduction, and vitamin K, necessary for the blood-clotting process. The ubiquinones (coenzyme Q), which are involved in the derivation of energy by the oxidation of food, are also formed from isoprenoids. The livers of fishes and other animals are particularly rich in oils that are largely acyclic triterpenoid hydrocarbons, especially squalene. In insects, certain isoprenoid substances influence maturation and mating behaviour, communicate alarm or repel predators, or mark the way between the nest and sources of food.

In the 1980s scientists discovered that proteins in animals often have isoprenoid structures containing 15 or 20 carbon atoms attached to a particular side chain of the protein. The isoprenoid is added after the protein is otherwise complete. The so-called prenylated proteins do not function without the isoprenoid. These modifications occur in proteins that induce cancers, and scientists believe that drugs that block protein prenylation can be a means to prevent the spread of the disease in an individual.

Steroids, a class of compounds of great importance in both plants and animals, are not isoprenoids but are derived directly from them.

Uses of isoprenoids

Of the uses that humans have found for isoprenoids, many were established in antiquity—as ingredients of perfumes and incense, flavourings and spices, and varnishes and medicinals. Amber, a fossilized isoprenoid resin, has been prized as a gemstone since prehistoric times. Rubber was used by the Central and South American Indians before the Spanish conquest.

Modern applications of isoprenoids are extremely diverse. Turpentine, long employed as a solvent, is used mostly as a source of its individual components, which are raw materials for chemical processing. Products derived from turpentine include ingredients for perfumes, vitamin A, lubricant additives, insecticides, resins used in adhesives, and industrial chemicals. Rosin, usually modified by chemical treatment, is widely used to make inexpensive soaps and coating materials. Other isoprenoids that are valuable in industry and commerce include camphor, menthol, citronella oil, and natural rubber.

Structural features of isoprenoids

The problems in molecular structure presented by the isoprenoids have challenged the imagination and skill of organic chemists since the latter part of the 19th century. The first studies were mainly concerned with the structures of the monoterpenes, the molecules of which contain 10 carbon atoms. However, as those structural patterns became familiar and techniques for investigation were developed, attention was turned increasingly toward those isoprenoids containing 15 to 40 carbon atoms. In 1887, German chemist Otto Wallach recognized that a fundamental unit of five carbon atoms could be connected in different ways to produce the variety of carbon atom arrangements found in monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes (molecules containing 15 carbon atoms). Wallach’s proposal, called the isoprene rule, has helped chemists understand the structures of the more complex members of the class. The fundamental five-carbon unit typically has four carbon atoms in a linear chain with the fifth carbon attached at the carbon one position removed from the end of the chain, shown schematically below. (The wavy lines indicate the individual five-carbon groups.) The relative position of the single carbon is constant in each unit.

More elaborate structures may not adhere strictly to this general structure, but a compound will still be considered an isoprenoid if there is no other type of structural class that it more closely resembles. The term isoprenoid is derived from the name of the five-carbon, doubly unsaturated branched hydrocarbon isoprene, which could in principle be the simplest monomeric chemical precursor for this class of compounds.

A structural feature especially common among isoprenoid compounds is a ring of six carbon atoms; the simplest compound possessing this structure is cyclohexane (not an isoprenoid), represented by structural formula 1, by a condensed version 2, or simply by the hexagon 3. In compounds of this kind, the six ring atoms are not coplanar, but the ring usually is puckered, as shown in 4 and 5.

Molecules that can be regarded as being formed by replacing one or more hydrogen atoms of cyclohexane (although few of them can actually be prepared in this way) by other atoms or by radicals (groups of atoms) can exist in different forms, depending on which hydrogen atoms are replaced. In the isoprenoid alcohol menthol, for example, three of the hydrogen atoms of cyclohexane have been replaced, each by a different group; the structures shown here specify the orientation of the bonds and the conformation of the ring in the natural form of menthol.

The term carbon skeleton is used to describe the pattern in which the carbon atoms are bonded together in a molecule, disregarding atoms of other elements and differences between single and multiple bonds. Most chemical reactions of organic compounds do not break bonds between carbon atoms and therefore leave the carbon skeleton unchanged. In many isoprenoids, rings of three, four, or five carbon atoms form part of the molecular structure. Many reactions in which carbon skeletons are rearranged were first observed during investigations of the isoprenoids and resulted in considerable confusion until the causes of their occurrence were recognized.

Structural classification of isoprenoids

The isoprenoids are broadly classified according to the number of isoprene (C5H8) units they contain, and they range in size from volatile oils of molecular formula C10H16 to giant molecules such as that of natural rubber, which contains about 4,000 isoprene units. The following classes are recognized: monoterpenes, C10H16; sesquiterpenes, C15H24; diterpenes, C20H32; triterpenes, C30H48; tetraterpenes, C40H64; and polyterpenes, (C5H8)n. Many of the isoprenoids possess carbon skeletons that may be regarded as built up from isoprene units linked “head to tail”; that is, carbon atom 1 of one unit is bonded to carbon atom 4 of the next unit.

Formation of additional bonds in a variety of ways leads to monocyclic, bicyclic, and further subclasses in which one, two, or larger numbers of rings are present. This further classification is exemplified by β-myrcene, an acyclic monoterpene; limonene, a monocyclic monoterpene; α-pinene, a bicyclic monoterpene; and vitamin A, an oxygenated monocyclic diterpene. The dotted lines in the structural formulas indicate the division of the carbon skeletons into isoprene units.

Tail-to-tail coupling of isoprenoids

The structures of most triterpenes and tetraterpenes show that they were formed by establishment of a tail-to-tail bond (carbon 4 to carbon 4) between two smaller units: in the structural formula of the important triterpene hydrocarbon squalene, for example, the arrow indicates the bond uniting two sesquiterpene portions.

The head-to-tail coupling of isosprenoid units in biosynthesis logically follows from expected enzymatic reaction patterns of the pyrophosphate units (see below Biosynthesis of isoprenoids). Tail-to-tail coupling does not appear to follow expected reaction patterns. Squalene, which has the most notable example of tail-to-tail coupling, is formed by the joining of two equivalents of farnesyl pyrophosphate. In the 1960s the British chemist John W. Cornforth showed that omitting a necessary reductant in the enzyme system that promotes the formation of squalene causes an unusual compound containing a three-membered ring, called presqualene pyrophosphate, to accumulate. (OPP represents the pyrophosphate group.)

Addition of the reductant permits conversion of presqualene to squalene. This compound was shown to be formed by a series of bond-forming steps and bond shifts. Reduction and ring cleavage produces the tail-to-tail linked product. Later work by the American chemist Charles Dale Poulter demonstrated that intermediates with three-membered rings also are involved in the formation of isoprenoids in which the units are joined by linkages that are neither head-to-tail nor tail-to-tail, such as botrycoccene, a plant isoprenoid that has a connection of carbon 2 to carbon 4.

Isolation and identification of isoprenoids

Numerous procedures have been developed for the isolation of isoprenoids from their natural sources. The selection of a technique is influenced by factors such as the chemical and physical properties of the compound and its abundance and distribution in nature. Volatile and plentiful substances such as turpentine are obtainable by distillation of oleoresins; rosin acids and fatty acids occur together in tall oil, a by-product obtained in the manufacture of paper pulp from pine wood, and they are separated by fractional distillation at reduced pressure. Extremely rare compounds, such as the insect hormones, have been isolated by chromatography (a method of separating the components of a solution, or mixture, based on selective adsorption onto a layer or column of suitable material). For the isolation of heat-sensitive perfume ingredients from flower petals, the laborious process of enfleurage is employed: the petals are placed in thin layers of carefully purified fat in which the floral oils dissolve; the oils are recovered from the fat by washing the solution with alcohol.

Chemical identification of isoprenoids, like that of organic compounds in general, falls into a classic pattern of steps that has the goal of furnishing a complete description of the molecule. This description includes specification of the number and kinds of atoms present, the chemical bonds that hold the atoms together, and the three-dimensional arrangement of these atoms and bonds. The sequence of operations necessary for such an identification includes purification, determination of atomic composition, and assignment of structure.

Purification

Isoprenoids can be purified by various techniques that depend primarily on the physical properties of the compound, such as the melting point or the boiling point or solubilities in various other substances. The chemical properties may be an advantage or a disadvantage in the application of these methods. For example, a compound in which heating induces a chemical reaction would be destroyed rather than be purified by a procedure requiring the application of heat, such as distillation or sublimation. On the other hand, methods depending on physical properties often cannot effect a satisfactory separation of a mixture of compounds possessing very similar physical properties; sometimes such mixtures can be converted by chemical treatment into a mixture of new substances that can be more readily separated; the separated components may then be reconverted into the original compounds.

In general, solid compounds can be purified by recrystallization and volatile compounds (either solid or liquid) by distillation. Nonvolatile liquids or solids contaminated by very similar substances can be purified by chromatography. Because even small amounts of contaminants can give rise to seriously misleading results in chemical identification, purification of a compound for this purpose must be carried to the highest attainable degree; it is highly desirable to subject a substance to a succession of purification procedures based upon different principles, such as distillation and crystallization. The rigour of this requirement is far higher than in purifying a substance to make it suitable for typical practical applications, for which it is often sufficient only to remove components that would be objectionable in the intended application (e.g., those that impart unwanted odour, colour, or flavour).

Analysis and determination of isoprenoid structure

Determination of the elemental composition of isoprenoids seldom presents difficulty, because they are hydrocarbons, and a simple, reliable procedure for quantitative analysis of carbon and hydrogen has been available since the early 19th century. The only other element commonly present in isoprenoids is oxygen, which does not interfere with the analysis for carbon and hydrogen, although it is difficult to determine directly; usually it is assumed to constitute the proportion of the compound not accounted for as carbon, hydrogen, and any other elements that have been measured.

Assignment of structures to isoprenoids once presented a challenging problem because the method for determining the structure of an organic compound was based entirely on studies of chemical reactions. Sequences of reactions eventually led to compounds with known structures, and the path back to the original substance was inferred from knowledge of the structural changes associated with the reactions employed. Frequently, more than one structure would be considered consistent with the information available. One of the most difficult isoprenoids to identify was camphor, for which more than 30 different structures were proposed before the correct one (shown here) was established.

The technique most commonly used to determine the structure of an organic compound relies on the effects of a magnetic field. This technique, called nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), was developed in the latter half of the 20th century by Swiss physical chemist Richard R. Ernst. In NMR a sample is dissolved and placed in a thin tube, which is spun between the poles of a powerful magnet. Radio-frequency energy is superimposed on the magnetic field, and the response of the compound to this energy is collected and interpreted. Because broad ranges of energy can be utilized and the complex results computer-analyzed, detailed assignments of the environment and of the relative position of hydrogen atoms and carbon atoms can be made.

Other valuable physical techniques used in structural determination include mass spectrometry, X-rays, and patterns of absorption of light energy, such as ultraviolet absorption spectrums or the absorption of infrared energy. High-resolution mass spectrometry enables the exact chemical formula of a compound to be determined. X-ray crystallography permits the detailed spatial location of each atom to be determined from a diffraction pattern. Once a compound has been crystallized, it is a routine task to obtain a detailed X-ray structure. In the past, synthesis was carried out to conform a deduced structure, but modern analytical methods have eliminated the need for synthesis to fulfill this role. On the other hand, chemical synthesis is useful for producing scaled-up amounts of material that are in short supply from their natural sources. Of course, in order to carry out the synthesis, the detailed structure must first be known.

Biosynthesis of isoprenoids

By the late 1940s the ubiquity of the five-carbon isoprene unit had been recognized for a long time. However, the identity of the compounds actually involved in the physiological assembly of the isoprenoids was not known, although it had been suggested that they were somehow built up from acetic acid, which contains only two carbon atoms per molecule. During the 1950s, German-born American biochemist Konrad E. Bloch and German biochemist Feodor Lynen discovered that the synthesis of isoprenoids in nature indeed begins with acetyl coenzyme A (sometimes called activated acetate), a compound derived from acetic acid and coenzyme A (CoA), a complex substance that participates in many reactions that are controlled by enzymes. Previously unknown compounds, mevalonic acid and isopentenyl pyrophosphate (IPPP), occur as important intermediates in the process.

The formation of geranyl pyrophosphate, the precursor of the monoterpenes, from two molecules of IPPP requires that one of them be transformed to dimethylallyl pyrophosphate (DMAPP). In the equations below, only the covalent bonds of the carbon skeletons are shown, and PP stands for the pyrophosphate group.

A similar reaction of geranyl pyrophosphate with IPPP leads to the 15-carbon compound farnesyl pyrophosphate—from which the sesquiterpenes are derived—which in turn is converted to the 20-carbon precursor of the diterpenes. All these reactions produce substances in which the isoprene units are joined head-to-tail; many of the larger isoprenoid molecules (triterpenes and tetraterpenes) are not built up by further incorporation of IPPP units but by tail-to-tail coupling of 15- or 20-carbon compounds. The structure of squalene, a triterpene, illustrates this point. The tetraterpene carotenoids apparently arise from a similar reaction of two 20-carbon isoprenoids.

Isoprenoid compounds

Monoterpenes

The monoterpenes are isolated from their natural sources by distillation of the plant matter with steam. They are volatile oils, less dense than water, and have normal boiling points in the range of 150 to 185 °C (300 to 365 °F). Purification is usually achieved by fractional distillation at reduced pressures or by regeneration from a crystalline derivative. Acyclic monoterpene hydrocarbons are few in number, but their oxygenated derivatives are more widespread in nature and of greater importance.

Important oxygenated acyclic monoterpene derivatives include the terpene alcohol citronellol and the corresponding aldehyde citronellal, both of which occur in oil of citronella, as well as citral, found in lemongrass oil, and geraniol, which occurs in Turkish geranium oil.

Citronellal is converted by treatment with acid into the monocyclic monoterpene alcohol isopulegol, from which a mixture of stereoisomeric menthols is produced by catalytic hydrogenation. The process is used commercially to supplement the natural sources of menthol (oil of peppermint), widely used as a flavouring and in medicinal preparations. Citral, upon reduction with sodium amalgam, yields geraniol, an important component of rose-scented perfumes. Citral may be condensed with acetone to yield the important intermediate pseudoionone, from which β-ionone is produced by treatment with acid. Although β-ionone cannot be regarded as a terpene, it is of great importance as a starting material for the synthesis of vitamin A and as a component of violet-scented perfumes.

Limonene (shown above), an oil of normal boiling point 178 °C (352 °F), is a major component of orange and lemon oils and is typical of the monocyclic monoterpene hydrocarbons. Others of this class are terpinolene, α- and β-phellandrene, and α-, β-, and γ-terpinene, all of which have the same carbon skeleton as limonene and differ only in the location of the two carbon-to-carbon double bonds. Limonene is optically active (it rotates the plane of polarized light), as are most of the terpenes and their derivatives that contain an asymmetric carbon atom—that is, one bonded to four different groups. Limonene is converted to isoprene by contact with a heated metallic filament. Few commercial uses, other than as flavourings, exist for the monocyclic monoterpene hydrocarbons. Menthol, which has already been mentioned, and the oxygenated derivatives α-terpineol and terpin (terpin hydrate) are commercially important chemicals. Mixtures of terpin, α-terpineol, terpinolene, and the terpinenes result from the treatment of α-pinene with acid, and the mixture finds use as pine oil, an inexpensive disinfectant, deodorant, and wetting agent.

α-Pinene has a boiling point of 156 °C (313 °F). It is representative of the bicyclic monoterpenes and is the most abundant and important monoterpene. It is the major component of ordinary turpentine, which is prepared from pine trees or stumps either by extraction followed by rectification or by distillation with steam. It is also a major component of sulfate turpentine, a by-product of the manufacture of paper, and is important as a component of paints and varnishes and as a raw material for the production of a wide variety of products employed in the chemical industry. Its use in coating materials depends on its properties as a solvent and on its conversion by oxidation into a polymeric resinous film.

Treatment of α-pinene with acids under various conditions leads to a host of products, among which are terpinolene, the terpinenes, α-terpineol, and terpin, previously mentioned, as well as borneol, fenchyl alcohol, and the hydrocarbon camphene.

The formation of the latter three compounds involves molecular rearrangement, and advantage has been taken of the structural changes to provide a commercial synthesis of the important bicyclic terpene ketone camphor.

Sesquiterpenes

Because they are of lower volatility than the monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, C15H24, are isolated from their natural sources by distillation with steam or by extraction. They are purified by vacuum fractional distillation or by chromatography. The sesquiterpenes demonstrate an even greater complexity of structure than the monoterpenes, and oxygenated sesquiterpenes are commonly encountered. Two arrangements of isoprene units are found in bicyclic sesquiterpenes, the cadalene and the eudalene types, and the carbon skeleton of a sesquiterpene may frequently be determined by heating it with sulfur or selenium to effect dehydrogenation to the corresponding naphthalenic hydrocarbons: cadalene, 4-isopropyl-1,6-dimethylnaphthalene; or eudalene, 7-isopropyl-1-methylnaphthalene. In those cases in which sulfur dehydrogenation fails to yield information about the carbon skeleton of a sesquiterpene, a systematic degradation by oxidation to compounds of known structure is necessary.

Cadinene, the principal component of oils of cubeb and cade, is a typical sesquiterpene of the cadalene type. It is an optically active oil with a boiling point of 274 °C (525 °F). β-Selinene, present in celery oil, is typical of the eudalene type.

Diterpenes

Phytol, an oxygenated acyclic diterpene, is an important building block of the chlorophyll molecule, from which it is obtained on treatment with alkali solution. The arrangement of isoprene units in phytol is identical with that in vitamin A, a monocyclic diterpene derivative, and is typical of the head-to-tail arrangement of isoprene units found in most terpenes.

The commercial importance of the bicyclic monoterpene α-pinene is paralleled in the diterpenes by abietic acid, a tricyclic carboxylic acid that constitutes the major portion of rosin. Rosin is the nonvolatile portion of the oleoresin of members of the pine family and is the residue left after the isolation of turpentine. Rosin is used in the production of varnish and coating materials. In the form of its sodium salt, it is used for sizing paper and for producing synthetic rubber. It is among the cheapest organic acids.

Triterpenes

The acyclic triterpene hydrocarbon squalene constitutes more than half of the liver oil of certain species of sharks and is otherwise rather widely distributed in nature. It has been found in other fish liver oils, in vegetable oils, in fungi, and in human earwax and sebaceous secretions. The biochemical importance of squalene as a metabolic intermediate in the biosynthesis of cholesterol was demonstrated by the use of radioactive carbon labeling. Although cholesterol is not a terpene, the demonstration that it has a terpene as a precursor in metabolism represented a major advance in understanding the biochemical relationship between the two important classes of compounds.

Although tricyclic and tetracyclic triterpenes are known, by far the most abundant triterpenes found in nature are those having five carbon rings. The pentacyclic triterpenes, either free or combined with sugars in glycosides (saponins), occur in all parts of many plants. The structures of many of the pentacyclic triterpenes are known in full detail; that of β-amyrin exemplifies the important structural features of this class of substances. The best source of β-amyrin is the resin elemi, obtained primarily from trees in the family of flowering plants known as Burseraceae. The carbon skeleton of β-amyrin bears a striking relationship to those of squalene and cholesterol, and it has been shown that squalene is a common precursor of the pentacyclic triterpenes and the sterols in biosynthesis.

Tetraterpenes

The yellow, orange, or red fat-soluble plant and animal pigments, known as carotenoids, are classed as tetraterpenes, although they have in general the molecular formula C40H56, rather than C40H64. The fact that their structures can be built up from isoprene units justifies their classification as terpenes. The carotenoids are isolated from their natural sources by solvent extraction and are purified by chromatography.

Lycopene, the red pigment of the ripe tomato, exemplifies the class of acyclic tetraterpenes. The dotted lines in the formula show the division into isoprene units, and it is to be noted that the usual head-to-tail attachment of isoprene units is interrupted in the centre of the molecule with a single tail-to-tail attachment that produces a symmetrical structure. This feature is generally encountered in the tetraterpenes, as is the long series of alternating single and double carbon-to-carbon bonds (conjugated system) that is responsible for the absorption of light and hence the bright colours of the compounds.

The most important and abundant tetraterpene is β-carotene, the principal yellow pigment of the carrot; β-carotene is of nutritional importance because animals are able to cleave the molecule at the point of symmetry with the production of vitamin A. The role of vitamin A and structurally related terpenoid molecules in the synthesis of the pigments in the eye that are necessary for vision has been demonstrated.

Polyterpenes

Rubber, which occurs in the latex of the rubber tree, is a polyterpene hydrocarbon, (C5H8)n, in which n is 4,000–5,000. Chemical degradation by oxidation and X-ray diffraction studies have revealed a repeating unit in rubber. Division into isoprene units is indicated.

The vulcanization of rubber involves the establishment of cross-linking between the chains through sulfur atoms. Gutta-percha differs from rubber in the way in which methylene (−CH2−) groups are arranged; in gutta-percha they are on opposite sides (trans arrangement) of the double bond, and in rubber they are on the same side (cis arrangement).